Window on Wednesday….”Vote solidly for Jeff Conteh”

I love this window…this is the window to a little shop in the village behind the beach we visited on Monday. It is a meeting place for the villagers…painted very patriotically in the the national colours of Sierra Leone…blue, white and green….

Relaxing day at the beach

Usually a visit to the beach is rewarded by this flock….

but yesterday there were only a few magic feathers…..

Window on Wednesday

….a bit of cross hatching going on in this window….

My visit home…

 
One of my favourite little birds …crested barbet…he matches the colours of the leaves so well…truly beautiful..
Arriving back in the country of my birth was such an emotional experience…smells, sounds, the familiar embraced me warmly. I observed many changes…mostly good…I was encouraged by what I saw…
Meeting up with friends and family listening to their views on the direction the country is heading was mostly positive…
It was good to be home…it was great to spend quality time with my Son and his lovely girlfriend…lovely memories have been stored in my treasure chest to be visited on the not so good days…
Looking forward to our next visit some time in the not too distant future…

thank you Grace for giving me the nudge….

home….i am going back to my birth country….

Yes tomorrow i am winging my way back to the country of my birth…will this feel like home? who knows…home…where is it…?
it will be good to see my son and my friend family….and an Africa i know and love…

Window on Wednesday

I’m very blue at the moment in more ways than one….I want to go home away from all of this…

Window on Wednesday

…the very sad and sorry state of our kitchen at the moment…
                                                                the broken reflection of the window says it all…
…we may be cooking in our kitchen in August…one set of fingers crossed…

Oh happy day!!

It’s here….it has arrived… at last……our “dirty” “basic” “fancy cat” or call it any other name…

a fast internet connection is up and running in living in my computer…

oh happy day…oh happy day

The Earths shadow…..

…one of the many mango trees bearing witness to the passing of the shadow ….

…….the clouds parted and we were able to catch this fleeting glimpse of the of the earths shadow passing over the moon…

…a hot and steamy night Freetown Sierra Leone 15th June 2011 21:50…a moment in my life to be remembered…

Window on Wednesday

Music in the air…window….

Window on Wednesday

I was going to crop this picture …..but looking at it I thought that the cropping would make it meaningless….so today…it’s windows on Wednesday….

this picture was snatched while travelling through town in our car…traffic is always so bad that one has many picture opportunities…

an indigo heart

 

this inspiration for this cloth came from Jude over at Spiritcloth …. I love hearts … I started this cloth it in heart month…when I was young and at boarding school, it was the month I dreaded the most…no Valentines for me…once I got one from my father…(bless him)…I scolded him for sending it …. that was not the done thing!!

Anyway this is my Valentine cloth to me….

the little indigo heart the inspiration for the name of the cloth….

…this cloth hangs on the wall in my work room where i can enjoy it….it warms my heart….

Quilt squares for Queensland….

These squares are destined to be a quilt for someone in Queensland who lost everything….I have 35 squares…I took them with me to the UK to post but sadly they never made to the post office because of my own senility….now they are back Sierra Leone…but there may be a way to get them where they need to be…Kaite if you read this I hope it is not too late…

Window on Wednesday…

greeting the morning…at the chimp sanctuary…

Window on Wednesday….reflections in Salisbury Cathedral

 

We have had the most wonderful two weeks wondering around the UK….the weather has been sunny and warm…one of our stops was the Salisbury Cathedral…This water font in the centre of the cathedral caught my imagination….I love water in doors as well as out….I especially like the very stillness of this water creating a wonderful mirror reflection the stained glass window above….

Window on Wednesday

More of the old University in Kline Town...



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A change of heart….

 

When I started this project way back in 2009 I had a sort of plan in my head of what I wanted the out come to be….but…not having enough room in our tiny flat to expand and see my project in its entirety…I guessed…then life got in the way, my project was folded neatly away to make room for the day to day…

Now i have plenty of room….with new inspirations from classes taken on like I am having a change of heart…mainly because I just can’t remember my thinking form way back when….

…bravely I started to weave in the new inspiration… but to my dismay have found that the new inspiration does not gel with my old inspiration…the old inspiration looks hard and far to regimented…

Window on Wednesday

kisses…xxx….under open windows….

Window on Wednesday

 

You have to love the patriotism of the Sierra Leoneans…..

Love does not alter….Indigo dyeing…

I have had a rethink on my shirt to be a coat….last year when I started on this project I was in a very different place both in location and in mind…now I have been exposed to new techniques…new inspiration…new friends…things are in a bit if a jumble…but the mist will clear…new creations will emerge….

At long last I have braved the indigo dye….the results were wonderful…I’m game for more….

Window on Wednesday

 

Remnants of an era gone by….

a weekend at the beach had me wondering through old skeletons of fine hotels…at one time…it has been told that long before the war here in Sierra Leone….people from Europe would flock to the beautiful beaches of Freetown…Tokeh beach was one of the most popular….sadly what remains are ruins…like this one, where one can see a window within a window…

Love does not alter…cont…

I first posted my “love does not alter” in April 2009, if you click on “Love does not alter” in “Labels” in the side bar you will find all the postings there…I stopped working on this piece because I did not have enough room in our tiny UK flat to spread the work out thus having an overall picture of the piece. Now i have ample room I need to pick it up again. Jude’s CWB workshop is just the inspiration I need to get me in the mood again…I hope to finish this by April..I want to wear it when we go back for a short break then…

Window on Wednesday…

Two eyes looking out at you from this window…

The Girls…aka the ugly sisters….

These girls have made their way to the UK hopefully to hang around and look pretty…good luck Girls!!

I am hoping to put more of the Girls into my shop…opening soon…

Getting to grips with wisps…Linus

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This little chap started out his  life from these humble beginnings…

…this inspiration came from the "Beasts” workshop given by Jude Hill over at Spirit cloth…

take a closer look…I have enjoyed putting him together…now he needs a resting place…perhaps he may connect with “waiting”….

Window on Wednesday

…a winking eye…

Mail bag treasure….

this little treasure was mailed to me from my mother….it belonged to my great Grandfather Pop…my mother did not tell me where he bought the card or when…but….

…I’m guessing he bought it in France sometime in the early 1900’s perhaps on a holiday or maybe even during the 1st World War….

…my great Grandfather Pop was very fond of his sister who lived in Ireland…this card was bought for her…and she was a very special lady because she looked after Pop’s 6 children when their mother…his wife…was committed to a mental institution….

He never posted this card…

Wisps…

Waiting…

I started this cloth back in April while we were waiting to leave the UK for Sierra Leone…it is hanging on the wall in the “studio” now but I think it needs some more attention but what that is I am not sure….

…a pot of tea perhaps?

 

Then there is this….

something I started at the end of the year…inspiration gained from Jude Hill…I am hoping to create a window something…but will have to see what comes from the heart to the needle to the cloth…

It’s haematin (not sure of the spelling) season here in Freetown…this is when the winds blow down from the Sarah desert…mornings are much cooler… the days are breezy…there is a haze in the air…like a pollution haze you get in an industrial city…it feels like autumn…

Window on Wednesday…the 1st of 2011

Although this window belongs to a derelict building, I find the open window very welcoming, happy almost awaiting any possibility….that is how I feel at the start of a new year….
Hope 2011 will be better than last year…